1971 HLS30-14938 "Lily" build

[wheee!]

I took mine down to bare metal and there were no creases. But this may have been a production change in the 280 as well.

[Patcon]

9 minutes ago, wheee! said:

I took mine down to bare metal and there were no creases. But this may have been a production change in the 280 as well.

Hmmm, interesting

[Patcon]

So I did some more blocking tonight. Also worked on getting the new mirrors mounted. I bought a kit with an assortment of metric rivnuts. I also ordered some oval head 5mm SS screws from Ebay.

Matched up the rivnut diameter to a step drill and enlarged the holes in the door.

Then made an attempt with a self made tool, and the result

The nut I had on the bottom was a different diameter and pulled some of the threads up. So I drilled that one out and redid it. I used a small washer with a larger one on top to make it easier to tighten down the 5mm nut.

So I ended up with this, by using a ratcheting wrench and a socket

You need to apply a good bit of downward force to keep the rivnut from spinning in the door. Once it starts to expand it gets easier.

A new door mirror mounted up

 

I like these mirrors. I sourced them off Ebay a number of years ago, but what I like about them is the passenger mirror is a wide view mirror and the drivers side is normal. I haven't seen them again

[wheee!]

Nice work

[Patcon]

22 hours ago, wheee! said:

Nice work

Thank you from one who would know!

[Patcon]

Someone PM'd me with this:

"Hi Charles:

A while back you mentioned that you had, on occasion, resorted to twisting a door as part of your panel alignment strategy.  I can see an element of usefulness to this, because it seems like it would permit moving the bottom (or top) of the door inboard or outboard at the rear without disturbing the front edge quite as much.  On the other hand, using shims at the hinge-to-post mounting point looks like it would move both the front and the rear edge outboard by the same amount, meaning that the door-to-front fender alignment would be affected.  Also, shims will only move the door outboard.

Can you tell me a little bit about: 

Why you decided to try twisting the door. 

How you did it.

How you think it worked (i.e Did the door's box structure twist, or did the front wall of the door distort where the hinges mount?)  

How much movement you accomplished at the bottom (or top) of the rear of the door.

Any cautions that need to be observed?"

So this was my reply, it occurred to me it might beneficial to others so I copied it over to here:

Why I decided?

There are actually body tools available to do this. They fasten into the door latch so you can twist a door. I could get three corners of the door right but never the fourth.

How you did it?
So I set the front two corners of the door properly. If I need to shim the hinges, I do that. Then you have one of the rear two corners that line up.

So If depending on which way you have to twist it you brace your leg against the door and pull with your hands. I am sure if you got too rowdy you could crimp the door somewhere.

This door is a 280z door, so it is stouter than the 240z door. The drivers door was 3/8" or more proud of the rocker panel when it was flush at the top. After a couple of tries at twisting, it lines up really nice. I haven't seen any unintended consequences of this technique. I suspect you could twist a door 1/2" or more if necessary but that door would be pretty far out. I tape some shims in what ever location is flush so it makes it easy to repeatedly check when the door lines up on all 4 corners.

Does that make sense?

[charliekwin]

1 hour ago, Patcon said:

This picture is amazing!

"Okay Charles, just try to look natural." "Got it."

[siteunseen]

He's a tall man for sure!  That shop door isn't that far away.  

[Diseazd]

8 minutes ago, siteunseen said:

He's a tall man for sure!  That shop door isn't that far away.  

If you think he’s tall, you ought to see Cody. I’m enjoying this project......and nice seeing you again at ZCON Charles.

Regards

Guy

[Patcon]

3 hours ago, Diseazd said:

If you think he’s tall, you ought to see Cody. I’m enjoying this project......and nice seeing you again at ZCON Charles.

Regards

Guy

Good to see you too Guy. Cody's is still growing hope he doesn't get much above 6'-7"

3 hours ago, siteunseen said:

He's a tall man for sure!  That shop door isn't that far away.  

Getting shorter every day.

3 hours ago, charliekwin said:

This picture is amazing!

"Okay Charles, just try to look natural." "Got it."

That's funny. I was trying not to fall down

[grannyknot]

Kind of like these guys,

 

 

[Mark Maras]

 When he grabbed the tire, I wondered if he was going to align the front end using his body alignment method.